You Promised
by Princess Adrenaline
Summary: "I'll be back." Four simple words, but Winry is done waiting for Edward, and she's going to do whatever it takes to find him... Even if it means traveling through Xing, which is undergoing a violent Revolution. But the people she thinks she can trust are turning their backs on her, and she has to put her trust in an awkward mailman and a brave rice-picker. But will things work out?
1. Hallucination

She didn't know how long she'd been staring at the window with a haunting emptiness filling her. For months, this sensation had been eating away at her emotions. At first, she thought it was nothing and she would get over it, but then it started affecting her work. Granny saw it coming. Winry didn't. So she sat there, waiting for a boy who had made her a promise.

"I'll be back."

Three- no, four simple words that filled her mind. She pondered them and what he could have meant by them. Back when? Five minutes? Five years? Certainly not minutes. It'd been just over a year, but it was more than enough to make Winry constantly anxious. That very anxiety made her unwilling to speak and unwilling to eat. She was shrinking steadily and could barely fix a toaster, even less automail. _I'm so pathetic._ She'd repeated those words for all this time, wondering where all of her strength had gone. All that optimism and pride in her friend, who had yet to return.

When he'd first gone, she had no doubt that he would come back. She trusted him and waited for one month. Then two. Then three. Then Al had come back, and she was more than ready to accept her two brother figures back into her life with open arms; only, he was the only one who had returned.

_"Al!" She ran up to him and hugged him, tears spilling from her eyes in happiness. "I'm so glad." He was very quiet, but she paid no heed. Instead, she excitedly darted her eyes around his old body and his surroundings. "Hey, where's... Ed...?"_

Winry stood up and walked outside, going to that place where she'd left the two brothers. Happy memories were only giving her nostalgia, which only made her heart yearn. _I'm so pathetic._ She slapped herself and sat down in the grass, closing her eyes to take a deep breath.

_Where are you, Ed? Aren't you going to keep your promise?_ She twitched. _I send a letter every week, but not once have you sent me once since you went on your mission? Am I not important enough? Aren't we supposed to get married?_ Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. She hadn't forgotten his proposal. It'd made her heart pound even though it was just a play-on-words to make him feel less nervous. _Ed, please come back. Please, please, please..._ She snapped her eyes open.

Standing a few yards away was a figure. For a split second, she thought it was Edward, but quickly recognized it as a solemn soldier carrying an envelope.

She knew what that meant and didn't want to face it: Edward had been killed. "No," she murmured. "No, no, no. That can't be right!" She raised her voice as she shook her head. Silent sobs racked her body. "God, you idiot, why?" Winry cried into her hands, refusing to even look at the soldier.

"Um, miss, I just came to deliver your mail."

Winry immediately stopped crying and snapped her eyes up at an awkward teenager holding out a stack of envelopes. Inside, a massive weight was taken off her chest. "You're not here to tell me that Ed is dead?" she asked quietly.

"Who's Ed?" He was clearly uncomfortable with her tears and stiffly held out the papers for her to take.

She stood up and grabbed the mailman's collar. "If you tell anybody that I was crying, I'll murder you," she hissed with a charming smile.

The color drained from his face. "Okay," he squeaked, then ran away when she released him.

Winry laughed a little. "Does this mean I give up?" she thought aloud. "Do I forget about him and move on?"

"Geez, Winry, you can't just threaten a weak mailman and then make yourself all sentimental," a voice called out. "Then again, if you didn't, you wouldn't be the girl I fell in love with."

_There's no flipping way._ The blonde disbelievingly looked up and saw a glorious sight: Edward Elric standing six yards away. He hadn't changed much since he left: his red jacket was nowhere to be seen, but he still wore the same black attire. "Ed?" she tested, not trusting her eyes completely.

"Always have been," he responded with a half-grin. Edward Elric stepped forward, looking down at Winry with affectionate eyes. "Always will be."

Tears filled her eyes, but she bit her lip in concentration to make sure they didn't fall. _No! I've been staying strong for Ed!_

"It's okay, you can cry." He smiled at her, granting her permission to release her feelings.

Needless to say, Winry broke down in Ed's arms. She closed her eyes and cried and cried, embracing his warm body.

She opened her eyes to find a scrawny female body holding her. "Hun, this is the fourth night you've woken up crying," Granny spoke with concern. "Are you okay?"

And Winry Rockbell didn't know what to say. She felt like going to sleep and being with Ed in her dreams eternally, but she knew that was an impossible option. So she shook Granny off, got out of bed, and prepared for another day without her friend.


	2. Happy Birthday to Me

It was her nineteenth birthday. Every year, she had spent it with Ed and Al, but this time it was different. For a week, she'd had a fantasy that Edward would show up at her door with a gift and hug her and celebrate her birthday. No such luck. Winry tried to distract herself by working harder. She'd given up on starvation and began to work heavily. She spent long nights in the basement, tinkering and waiting for her friend to come home.

She glanced at the clock that hung drearily on the wall opposite her work table. _Ten minutes until I turn nineteen._ She stood up and undid her bandana, starting to walk upstairs. Ed was reliable and always remembered her birthday; if he returned at any time, this would be it. This thought made her feet go faster, and soon she was running out the door of her small home that she shared with Granny.

Winry looked at her watch, then at the horizon. _Seven minutes._ The sun was rising, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful, warm summer day. She had distant memories of having a picnic outside with the Elric brothers as they argued about who would marry her. At the time, she'd just thought of it as childish. Nine years later, she wanted it more than anything in the world.

_Five minutes._ She gently sat down and took out her ponytail. _I'm not pathetic anymore,_ she told herself, looking at the field with determination. _I've become strong again for Ed, and nobody can tell me otherwise. He will come home for my birthday._ The blonde smiled with pride, ready to accept her friend once again.

_Three minutes._ Winry swallowed nervously. Now that she was reassured, she was worried about how she would greet him. A punch in the face for making her wait for so long? She didn't think she'd have the guts after being so desperate for him to come back. A hug, maybe. Unless she squeezed him to death, she didn't think that that would convey the depth of her feelings. Her last alternative made her cheeks redden._ I guess that idiot will get a kiss._

_One minute._ She didn't want to blink in case she missed him for a split second. Standing up, Winry prepared herself for the countdown to Ed's arrival.

_Ten._ She swallowed.

_Nine._ Birds chirped.

_Eight._ Her heart pounded.

_Seven._ Fluffy clouds passed slowly.

_Six._ Ghosts of her memories played in the fields.

_Five._ A jack rabbit sniffed her feet.

_Four._ Winry locked her hands together in prayer.

_Three._ Footsteps resounded.

_Two._ She closed her eyes.

_One._ And opened them.

Standing in front of her was the teenage mailman. She twitched and gave him a deathly glare.

He squeaked in fear. "Oh no, not you again! Are you still waiting for that guy... Ed?" he asked, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Listen, miss, you should really move on with-"

"You think I don't know that?" she yelled angrily. "You're wrong. So wrong. But we're supposed to get married...!" She put a hand to her face and grimaced. _Damn. I'm the one that's wrong. I shouldn't have dreamt so recklessly._

"Ah, miss, but that guy sent you a package!" he objected, happy to give her good news. "He works for the military, right? That's why you asked me a month ago if I was here to tell you he was dead!" He held out a large box for her to take.

Winry snatched the box. "Thank you so much!" she exclaimed. "Have a good day!"

The boy breathed a sigh of relief and started running away. "No problem, miss! I'm off to my next location!"

"Right! Goodbye!" She sat down with the box and started tearing it open with her nails. Her pulse raced in excitement._ It's from HQ! It's the only way he can send me anything, after all!_ She smiled like an idiot, getting ready to find out the contents of the box. Once her eyes locked on the object, though, her face froze in shock. Inside lay an automail arm; the very one she designed specifically for Ed.

"What is the military trying to tell me?" she murmured, not sure how to process this. She shakily reached for the arm and picked it up, holding it close to her heart. Winry clutched it and trembled.

"Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me," she sang quietly. "Happy birthday, happy birthday.

"Happy birthday to me."


	3. Interrogation

Two months after the shocking birthday present made its way to her, Winry Rockbell was back to normal. Well, as normal as she could be with Edward's automail arm hiding in her closet. She still had no idea what that meant, but had no way of contacting the military._ Unless..._ She looked up from doing the dishes and stared at Al, who was playing cards with Granny. The elderly woman was crushing the blond boy easily, but he still seemed determined to learn. Winry saw a lot of Ed in him. Her heart tugged a bit, but she didn't dwell on it too much. Instead, she headed to her room to retrieve something sacred to her.

Winry returned to the dinner table with the same box she had gotten months ago. She set it down in front of Al and looked at him expectantly. He looked up at her with confusion, but she only nodded to the package.

"What...?" He opened the package, seeing as Winry wasn't going to budge. His eyes bulged with shock, then dissipated into familiarity, then suspicion. "This can't be," he murmured.

She had hoped that he would know what this was about. "I don't know how his arm could have gotten here," she agreed. She forced her voice to stay steady, as she didn't want to scream at Al. "So why is his arm here? What _happened_ to Ed?"

He looked away.

Winry's eyes flashed with hurt. "Please, Al. I have to know."

Al sighed, looking only at Granny as he explained. "Brother lost his alchemy, as you know, but the military still had something they wanted him to do. They allowed me to accompany him just to protect him if needed. The mission itself was a search for Teacher. She had disappeared." He registered surprised looks from the two women. "We were the perfect two for the job.

"We found her in Reole, doing some work for her long-lost brother or something. She was fine, so we were ready to go home. This was a few months after we first left Resembool. We went to HQ to report, and they gave us the thumbs-up to leave. When we went to get on the train, though..." He looked down at the table. "Brother didn't get on with me. He said, 'I don't know if I'll be back. Tell Winry she can have eighty-five percent of her life back. It'd be bad to have that with me if I died!'"

Winry slapped her hand on the table. _That idiot! He can't go back on our promise that easily._ "That still doesn't explain where he went or why his arm came in the mail!"

Al looked surprised. "In the mail? When?"

"Uh..." Winry scratched her head. "On my birthday."

"Maybe someone is messing with your head," Al suggested. "Brother could be playing a trick on you."

"After I told him to take extra good care of his arm?" Winry growled, pissed at Ed for parting with her precious machinery. "That idiot wouldn't dare. Besides, he needs that to fight properly. What if he's trapped or something?"

Granny shrugged. "It could be a threat, but Reole has been a safe place for a while now. If he's in trouble, it's in a different part of Amestris, or even outside the boundary."

Winry's eyes lit up. "I'll go look for him!" she suggested excitedly. "Al, you too! We'd travel around the world to search for Ed!"

Al and Granny exchanged nervous glances. "Hun, you can't. It's dangerous out there, and if something like this has come in the mail, then looking for Edward probably isn't the safest option."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "But... What about you, Al? You'd come with me, wouldn't you?"

He looked away. "I think Granny Pinako is right. I trust Brother to come home safely, even though I really want to help him."

Winry's heart sank. Even Ed's own brother wasn't going to try. "So... I'm alone on this?" she asked to make sure.

The two stayed silent.

"Fine. That's not going to affect me," she spoke with finality. "I'll look for him myself. I'll go to Drachma. Aerugo. Creta. Take the new train to Xing! I could talk to Ling Yao; he'd help me. He and Ed were (kind of) friends."

"You can't, Winry," Al objected. "Ed wouldn't want you to risk everything to find him."

"Who's risking everything?" She hastily closed the package and picked it up, briskly heading to her room. _Ed, why won't you come back? This is just getting ridiculous! Forget the kiss. I'm going to beat you up if I find you. I mean,_ when_ I find you._ Her eyes hardened in determination._ I'm not waiting anymore. I'm coming for you._


	4. A Letter Meant Not for Me

One month after her threat to look for Ed, Winry had calmed down and settled back into routine. Time passed quickly, but she was no longer depressed. She kept herself busy with work and enjoyed time with Granny and Al. Being with Al reminded her too much of Ed, though, so the blonde tried to avoid too much contact with him.

On this particular day, the automail shop was closed and Winry went outside to enjoy the fresh air. Unfortunately, her one day in nature quickly turned into a dreary thunderstorm, causing the blonde to unhappily bring an umbrella with her. She didn't mind dirt from rusty automail, but the feeling of being soaked with rain wasn't at the top of her agenda. Still, it wasn't like she could avoid it, so she ended up sitting on the stone ledge that laced the walkway leading to her house. She swung her legs idly, realizing that she hadn't changed her clothes in a few days. _Guess I've been busy working,_ she pondered, watching her capris getting dotted with raindrops.

"Miss!" a familiar voice called out.

Winry's eyes darkened. It'd been awhile since she'd seen the guy, and he had the audacity to come back when he'd given her the worst birthday present ever? _Maybe if I don't move, he won't notice me._

No such luck. "Miss! I have your mail!"_ Mission failed._ She looked up at the awkward teenage mailman, who was huffing a few yards away. He lacked an umbrella, but it looked like he was protecting his mail with his life. "I promise it's not wet. Oh, hey! Did that Ed guy ever come back?"

"Well, he sure isn't coming back with one of his arms," she murmured. After receiving a confused look, she explained. "The package you gave me? It contained his automail arm. It was my birthday."

His eyes bulged in surprise. Suddenly, he wasn't so eager to be near this aura of grief. "I see," he spoke slowly, handing her the mail. "But the military sent someone a letter in your household."

Winry was interested. This letter couldn't possibly contain another part of Ed's body, so..._ Maybe he's sending me a letter of explanation!_ She scrambled off the ledge and took the mail from the teen, leafing through it to find the very envelope. "Thanks." As he started walking away, though, she called out, "I never caught your name."

He looked back at her, surprised at the personal question. "It's Aaron Christos."

Winry smiled brightly at him. "Winry Rockbell."

Aaron blinked at her before returning the smile. "Have a good day, Miss Winry." With a small wave, he jogged in the opposite direction, following the path to his next destination.

She smiled. _Aaron Christos, huh? That's a strange name._ Instead of dwelling on it, Winry splashed through the mud in her flip-flops and headed inside. Granny had gone out on a shopping expedition. Al had left a few days earlier to spend some time with Izumi, so he wasn't coming back anytime soon.

Winry took off her shoes and sat down at the dinner table, disregarding all other mail except for the special one Aaron had pointed out. It was addressed to Alphonse Elric, much to her disappointment, but then she reasoned that he was Ed's brother, and he had more rights to the letter than she. Still, she wasn't about to wait for Al to come back and read it to her, so she impulsively ripped it open and shakily opened the letter.

_Alphonse,_

_I know that you're angry about us keeping Ed's location a secret, and I don't blame you. Now I can tell you the whole story. The 'job' to find Izumi Curtis was fake, and Ed knew that. We designed a mission specifically for him, so we're sorry to say that he tricked you. However, he disappeared off our radar some time ago. We didn't want to alert you because the mission is in Xing. You can probably guess why he's there._

_We've ordered the military to_ disallow_ you or any of Ed's friends to find him. It's a dangerous situation. As for that automail arm we sent you... well, not to put Miss Rockbell down, but the arm wasn't sufficient for the mission, so we had a professional mechanic redesign something more suitable. Believe me, though, he absolutely abhorred the idea of any other arm._

_Regards,_  
_Colonel Roy Mustang_

Winry was taken aback by the insult to her automail work. She was also confused as to what was going on in Xing. Apparently it was already obvious enough, but she hadn't heard of anything going on there. At any rate, she now knew where Ed was, and she was locked on her target. _I'll go there, talk to Ling Yao, and find him in no time flat! Wait... but the Colonel has put out special orders to restrain me from traveling there._

_I'll need to be deceptive to do this,_ she thought, starting to plan her escape._ New name, clothes, ID card..._ Her eyes darkened_. I'll need someone to help me. It'll look suspicious if a young woman is traveling alone. Besides, if I'm with someone, I'll probably be safer. Al is gone, though, and Granny would definitely oppose it. So who...?_

It clicked in her mind, and a second later she was out the door barefoot, sprinting as fast as her legs would carry her. "Aaron!" she called out, huffing as she made her way down the trail. She spotted his figure walking peacefully in a slouched position. "Aaron Christos!"

When he turned to look at the girl calling his name, Aaron didn't know what he was about to get himself into.


	5. Journey

"Name?"

Winry looked up shyly from her booth at the officer asking for tickets. "Iris de Sauveterre," she spoke softly, smiling a little.

The officer's cheeks reddened. "I-I see." He took Winry's ticket before turning to Aaron. "Yours, sir?"

Aaron had a baffled look, obviously surprised that Winry made such a cute face so easily when all of his meetings with her had been angry. "A-Alfred Desjardins," he stuttered awkwardly, stiffly giving his ticket to the man.

After he had left, Winry sat back up and cocked a brow at Aaron. "Nervous much?"

His jaw dropped at her reverted attitude. "Since when are you a shy girl?" he accused.

She smirked. "Since I became your _fiance_," she reminded him. "Makes people think that you're stronger. I'm trying to help you out here, but you keep getting all nervous."

"I'm a part-time mailman from Rush Valley! I don't exactly leave the country every day on adventures!" Aaron sighed, laying his head back on the seat. "Why did I agree to this?" he asked himself aloud.

"Because your life needs a little something," Winry convinced him. "I need you, and you need me. It's a symbiotic relationship, so just go with it!" She smiled at him and really took in Aaron's appearance for the first time. She remembered that he was quite tall and slender, but now she could see that he was more built than he thought. Black, messy hair was up in a short ponytail, and a thin layer of sweat covered his throat, which was exposed by his white button-down shirt. His eyes were forest-green and innocent as they looked back into her blue ones. If she wasn't already in love with Ed, she might've tried to vouch for his affection. A_h, I love having someone who loves me back! Too bad he has a hard time admitting it most of the time._

"Hey," Aaron asked, snapping Winry from her once-overs of him. "What's that Ed guy to you?" His expression was a bit on the negative side as he pondered it.

Winry was surprised. _Did he read my mind or something?_ "He's my fiance. He was going to come home after this mission, but..." she trailed off, looking out the window as the empty desert passed by. "...this is why we're going. To look for him. The military lost track of him, so all we know is that he's in Xing."

Aaron's eyes bulged. "What? That's it? Xing is several times larger than Amestris, Miss Winry! How do you plan to find one man in a country that big?"

The blonde smiled, unfazed by Aaron's concerns. "I know Ling Yao," she assured him. "You know, Emperor of Xing?"

She expected pleasant surprise, but her acquaintance's expression only became more horrified. "Don't you know what's going on in Xing right now?"

_There it is again. Something happening that I don't know about. Colonel Mustang mentioned that in his letter._ Winry had brought that very letter with her. "No," she spoke simply.

He sighed. "You should really read the newspaper. Xing is having a Revolution right now. The royal family has been removed from power, but no one can agree on what should happen now. It's chaotic. Haven't you noticed why we're two of the only people on this train?"

Winry looked around, which confirmed Aaron's explanation. _Ling Yao... how the hell am I supposed to find Ed now?_ She buried her face in her hands. "I just want to see him again," she murmured. "I'm tired of waiting. I can't do that forever. He could be in trouble." _Now I know the nature of Ed's mission. He was called here to fix the chaos. I guess they didn't want Al involved because of May Chang._ Her eyes widened. _I wonder where she is? She might be in a lot of trouble if the situation is violent._

"You got yourself involved with some interesting people, Miss Winry," Aaron commented. "How did you manage to do that?"

She smiled, looking out the window. "I grew up around two ambitious boys. Their mother tragically died, causing the elder brother immense grief," she started quietly. "The two of them studied alchemy and tried to resurrect her, resulting in their bodies being taken. Their attempt failed. They burned their house down and became known as the-"

"-Elric Brothers," Aaron finished with amazement. "The Fullmetal Alchemist and his younger brother. I remember when I was a paperboy and handed out news about Edward and Alphonse Elric, but I never imagined that that's who you were talking about!"

Winry smiled more. "They were my only playmates. And Edward proposed to me before he left for this mission." Tears welled up in her eyes. If they were an ordinary couple, they would have been married by now; Winry might've even been expecting a child. Instead, though, she was chasing her fiance into foreign territory in order to make sure he wasn't dead.

"D-Don't cry, Miss Winry!" Aaron stuttered, obviously uncomfortable with emotions. "If he's that important to you, then we'll definitely find him!" His eyes were determined.

A few hours later, the train slowed down to a stop. Winry had taken this time to sleep, but now she lazily peeked out the window to find a bustling marketplace. The sun hung high in the sky, beating down on the town and causing the ground to emit heat waves. She had predicted that it would be a lot warmer in Xing, but not the dying summer. "Where are we?" she asked sleepily, unmoving.

Aaron put his cap on and slung his bag over his shoulder. "The Yao clan. I convinced the officer to let us keep going on the train to the eastern side of Xing... since you know Ling Yao." He averted his eyes. "Even though he's been demoted, I'm sure we can find him and use his help."

Winry sat up, smiling at her friend. "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better," she admitted, adjusting her own luggage, which consisted of a suitcase and a portable automail kit. "Let's start our search, _Alfred!_"


	6. Accidents Don't Exist in Xing

Winry lightly held onto one of Aaron's arms, pretending to be a curious tourist. She was one, in a way, but for different reasons than her character. She was observing the bustle and the people, not the scenery. It was only then did she realize that the Xingese people spoke a different language than Amestrians. "Alfred, _dear_," she hissed. "Do you speak Xingese?"

Aaron stiffened. "Another road block? Really, you didn't plan that well, Miss_ Iris_." He sighed in exasperation, relaxing his body. "Where should we start our adventure?"

"An inn to stay at?" Winry suggested.

"That requires money, and we spent ours on train tickets," he reminded her. "We have to earn some."

"Right," Winry agreed, considering the situation._ We're in foreign territory with no money, no place to stay, and a language barrier_. "I don't know."

Aaron brightened up. "Oh, wait! My mother was in the military and was stationed in Xing, so she always taught me the language whenever she came back to Rush Valley. I used to be fluent, but then she was KIA, so I didn't see a point in practicing. My skills are rusty, but I can hold a conversation."

Winry smiled widely. "That's great! Then I'll use you as my mouth. Let's go over to that clinic," she directed, pointing at a small building. The structure was similar to medical institutions in Amestris. "Both of my parents were doctors in the military, so I know a little bit about healing."

"And you're an automail mechanic," Aaron murmured. "You help people regain an active life."

She never considered her work that way. In her mind, it was just a way to spend her time doing something she loved._ I guess it's kind of nice to be thought of as a hero,_ she thought with a smile as they headed to the outdoor clinic. There were a few stretchers there, as well as two Xingese ladies tending to the only patient: a young man moaning in pain.

One of the ladies noticed Winry and Aaron and stood up straight to greet them. She seemed to recognize that they were Amestrian and spoke in accented English. "Good afternoon. May I help you?" She seemed very professional and serious.

Winry smiled. "Yes, I was looking for a job. I don't have a lot of experience, but-"

"I'm sorry, but we don't need help," the woman interrupted. "Besides, we can't afford to pay someone. We aren't earning enough money as it is to keep the clinic open."

The blonde's smile disappeared, but her eyes didn't faze. "I'd be willing to work without pay!"

"I told you, we can't-"

"Ai Zhao!" a young child cried, running up beside Winry. He was quite upset and said something in Xingese, causing Ai's eyes to widen. She spoke to the other woman in the same language.

Aaron leaned over to whisper to Winry, "He says that there's a mining accident. Ai says that she's going to check it out and help some people there."

"I'll tag along," Winry insisted. "It can't hurt your business."

Ai sighed in defeat. "That's fine. Just stay out of my way." She took some supplies from the other woman and hurried in the direction of the accident.

Winry and Aaron looked at each other before following the woman at a brisk pace. There was chaotic conversation going on and black smoke rising in the distance, telling the three where the site of the accident was. The rank smell of burnt wood filled Winry's nostrils, causing her to cough._ It's a coal mine,_ she guessed. _Probably the only one in this town_. Upon arrival, she could see that people were trying to get out. Several men ran from the mine, covered in black and coughing violently.

Ai calmly walked into the danger with Winry and Aaron following closely behind. "As a doctor, you have to be able to handle death," she started, coming across the first body. "Deal with the present situation and save your tears for the pillow." She talked with undertones of reminiscence. Winry believed that Ai saw a lot of death in her town.

"Eric Bierl?" Ai called out as the smoke as their eyes adjusted to the smoke. "Eric! Where are you?" Her voice was panicked.

"Ai... Ai..." a rugged voice came from Aaron's left. The two Amestrians jumped in surprise to find an older man sitting up with his back against a rock. His shirt was bloody and his clothes dirtied. "The mine... it's all my fault... it's all my fault."

"Shh," Ai cooed, kneeling down next to Eric. "Be quiet, uncle. Let me tend to you."

"No... too many others... they're far more injured than I. G-Go. I'll be fine in the company of this lovely young lady." He winked at Winry lightheartedly.

Ai frowned, but Winry agreed with Eric. "I'll take care of him. You should find the others. Aaron, you help her."

Aaron nodded and stood up, coaxing Ai to go with him. She reluctantly went with him, and the two disappeared into the mine.

Winry put her suitcase and kit down to inspect Eric's body. He kept insisting that he was fine, but she identified his biggest injury: the top thirds of all the fingers on his left hand were gone, leaving bloody stumps. His hand twitched in pain, but he only smiled softly. "I held up the ceiling enough for some of them to escape, but then it crushed my fingers. Funny, isn't it?"

She opened her automail kit, which was no first-aid kit. It was a metal box as big as a tote bag and held all of the necessary tools needed for a quick fix. Eric was certainly surprised. "I haven't seen an automail kit since my childhood in Reole!" he conversed brightly. "But young lady, what brings you to such a dangerous country when you were safe in Amestris?"

"I'm here to find the Fullmetal Alchemist," she replied, arranging four cylinders of metal and tinkering at a brisk pace.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist!" Eric exclaimed, wincing as Winry used tweezers to locate some nerves in his stump and attach the first finger. "He's the brother who lost his alchemy, right? What a man, what a man, defeating the most villainous of enemies!"

Winry smiled at Eric's compliments. "I received information that he disappeared in Xing, but I didn't know about the Revolution, so I came on the assumption that I could just walk into the Palace and talk to Ling Yao."

"The Emperor!" Eric repeated, flinching at the next finger. "What made you think that you could have just strolled into a royal building and have a chat with the _Emperor_?"

"I personally know one of his friends," she spoke after hesitating for several seconds. She hummed in thought when she couldn't locate a vein in Eric's ring finger. She carefully dug into the flesh, finally catching sight of it. After attaching the third finger, she said, "Once I'm done, it might take you a year to get used to them, but that's only really in the case of a major limb, like an arm, so it might only be a few months. You should be back to mining in no time!"

"Not if- ah!- there's no mine to work in," he grumbled as she exposed the nerves in his pinkie. "I might just go back to Reole for different work. Plus, I can get this handy-dandy new automail fixed if I ever break it!"

Winry's eyes widened in surprise. "Does Xing not have automail?"

Eric shook his head. "The only Xingese person to ever get automail is Lan Fan, but that operation took place in Amestris, as I recall. Here, automail is but a child's tale."

Winry's concentration was suddenly broken by panicked voices in the streets. Startled, she jumped and accidently poked Eric's flesh. He hissed in pain. "Sorry," she murmured. The recurring words she heard were 'Renshu Su.' "Who's Renshu Su?" she thought aloud.

Eric breathed heavily, his eyes darting around as he endured pain. "Law enforcement of this region. Put your automail away, quickly."

"Not until I finish your pinkie!" she argued, working quickly to efficiently attach the last cylinder onto his scrawny finger. Once finished, she sat back and clapped. "Fastest operation I've done in a while," she praised herself, wiping sweat off her forehead. Eric was unconscious as expected, but now he would have a useful hand, no pay required.

"This... This is a catastrophe," a man's voice called out in English.

Winry looked up to see a broad-shouldered Xingese man and his subordinates flanking him. He didn't look like a very nice man. She swallowed her fear and stood up. "Sir, there was an accident. I'm helping tend to the injured miners."

He snapped his eyes to the blonde, then at Eric Bierl's modified fingers. "What in God's name is that?" he murmured.

She looked at her automail kit, unsure how to explain herself. "It's automail," she tried.

Renshu glared hard at Winry, then pointed at her. "You, witch! How dare you curse this town and bring death upon so many civilians! You've marked Bierl with the devil? For what purpose?"

Winry blinked in confusion. This was spinning out of proportion and slowly getting out of her control. "I'm not a witch! I'm Amestr-"

"Don't believe her, men. Witches are compulsive liars and will trick you. Take her away to be tried." Renshu looked down at Winry's confused face with disgust. "How dare you use such an innocent vessel. You'll be put to death."

_Wait... what? What's going on?_ One man came behind her and jerked her arms behind her back to secure with a rope. _How did I suddenly become a suspect of the accident?_ "T-Tried!" she repeated, coming to her wits. Her eyes searched Renshu's for answers. "For what?"

He spat on her boots. "Witchcraft."

Emerging from the mess were Aaron and Ai, but upon seeing Winry and the men, Ai clamped a hand over Aaron's mouth and brought him back into the cave. "Miss Win-!"

"Shh!" They backed up and watched from the shadows. "This isn't good," Ai speculated. "Looks like Renshu Su has claimed another civilian for the witch trials."

"Witch trials!" Aaron whisper-yelled. "But aren't those nearly impossible to survive?"

Ai nodded. "Not 'nearly' impossible. Death is_ inevitable_ for anyone suspected. Looks like the young miss is about to experience real pain. I wonder what they'll choose for her trial."

"Wait! Can't we do anything to save her?" Aaron panicked, wiggling against Ai as they watched the men walk away with Winry.

"The most you can do is watch her die and pray that she goes to a better place than Xing."


	7. Swimming with Death

Her eyes fluttered open, followed by her mouth, which formed a wide yawn. _Geez... why's my bed so cold?_ She shivered at the flatness of it and sat up. She blinked three times before memories struck her like a ton of bricks._ I'm... I'm going to be tried for witchcraft! I've been imprisoned!_ She paced around her cell in panic, wondering what she was going to do. She remembered Granny telling her about the witch trials in the 16th century, which Winry had always cast off. _Oh, the irony,_ she thought nervously.

Behind her, the door to her cell opened loudly, and standing there stood one of Renshu's guards. "Come with me."

Winry didn't hesitate to shoot out of that door. She was cold, hungry, and her hair needed a good cleaning. "How long has it been?" she asked, biting a complaint back when the man grabbed her hand roughly.

"A few days," he muttered.

"What are trials like?" she asked curiously.

"Too many questions." There was silence until the guard caught Winry's sad eyes. "...Ordeal by water. You're going for a swim."

_Swim?_ It didn't _sound_ that bad, but Winry knew better than to judge a book by its cover. If it was a witch trial, it couldn't be good. "I see," she murmured. The rest of their walk was silent until they left the building. By that point, she started hearing Xingese again and could relax with people nearby._ Unless I'm having a public execution?_ she pondered, her eyes widening in fear._ No. That can't be. They're trying me, not murdering me. Not yet, anyway._ She cast her eyes down, wondering where Ed was. Maybe he was thinking about her. Maybe he was thinking about the Revolution. Maybe he was thinking about how much he hated milk.

Winry and the guard arrived at the lakeshore, where a boat awaited her. Inside, Renshu Su and another man sat, looking at her expectantly. "Get in," Renshu ordered.

She was pushed by the guard to step into the wooden boat and was squished onto a seat next to Renshu. Winry was very uncomfortable touching him, but he didn't seem to care at all. "What is this swimming thing?" she asked.

The man rowing the boat looked back at her. "Ordeal by water. You'll be stripped and tied by the hands and feet. If you sink in the water, you're innocent. If you float, it means that God's creature, water, has rejected you because you're impure."

"So either way I die?" Winry asked angrily. They didn't respond, confirming her negative hypothesis._ If you sink, you die. If you float, you die. This is just a paranoia-run operation!_ She was terrified despite her calm demeanor. She hadn't blinked since her epiphony earlier, and now her stomach was starting to twist in turmoil.

The rower spoke in Xingese to Renshu, and the latter passed Winry to the front, where the man started ripping her shirt off. Her face turned red in humiliation, but she couldn't do anything to save herself. She could see the gun in Renshu's belt and didn't want to risk getting shot down because of her self-consciousness. _Think about Ed._ She closed her eyes and painted his face in her mind. It was fuzzy, but she could clearly see his ambitious amber eyes, which caused her to yearn for him.

After they'd gotten her into a natural state, Renshu tied her hands to her feet with a rope tightly, giving her complete immobility. "Let's begin." He and the other man slowly lifted Winry.

_No! This can't be happening! God, please let me float. I don't care if it makes me seem impure. I don't care if I'm selfish. I want to see Ed!_ Tears filled her eyes._ Please... Ed...!_ When she felt air surround her body, she knew she was being thrown into the water, and she took one last desperate breath before hitting the surface. _Float... Float...!_

Luck turned against her. She sank into Death's liquid form and was soon submerged in all of it. She thought her last prayers as she went deeper into the lake. Above, she heard panicked Xingese voices which confirmed that she was salty tears stained the fresh water of the lake, and her lungs craved oxygen.

_Where did I go wrong?_ she asked herself desperately. _Where in my life did I mess up to end it like this? Was I wrong to choose automail? To be born in that family? To ever meet the Elric Brothers? Was I destined to die at nineteen years old?_ All these questions would be left unanswered as reality slipped away and she released the breath she held.

And she watched her breath take the form of bubbles and rise to where she couldn't reach. To a place where they held her life hostage. Now she was free. _But... I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die!_ Her eyes became numb and started closing, leaving a haze of red in her lifeless vision. Just before she passed out, she saw the face of a young Xingese woman swimming towards her. _Save... me..._


	8. Zhilan, My Savior

"Please wake up."

_Someone's talking... but I don't recognize that voice. Have I been reincarnated into a new life? Am I no longer myself?... No, if this was a new life, I would be normal, not wondering about being a new person._

"Oh God, she's dead! They're going to come after me. I can't go home now. Someone probably saw me take her body! I'm going to die because I saved some foreign girl. I may as well be dead. Dead!"

_I've been... saved? Again?_ In a small part of her heart, Winry was ashamed of herself for depending on someone else. She coughed up water, causing her stomach to clench and unclench harshly. Her wrists and ankles ached with rope burns, but her body was now adorned in a traditional Xingese dress. "Where... am I?" she asked hoarsely, weakly sitting up and looking around. She was sitting in a booth in an empty inn, and a chandelier dimly lit the room. "Still in Xing?"

The other girl snapped her eyes to Winry's. She looked like she'd been pacing nervously and waiting for the Amestrian girl to wake up. "You're alive!" she exclaimed.

"I try," Winry replied smartly, smiling weakly.

"Not in the state you were in," the girl muttered. "You looked like a pathetic throw-doll. I was ready to slap you back into reality."

Winry blinked rapidly and cleared her lungs of water before breathing in deeply. "My name is Winry Rockbell... I'm from Amestris, as you can guess."

"Zhilan Wu. Born and raised in the Yao clan as a rice-picker, also a bartender for the rowdy men. It's a pleasure... then again, looking at our situation, it's probably not."

Winry looked down at the table. "Thank you for saving me, Zhilan."

Zhilan's sighed. "Geez! You shouldn't be thanking me! If they find you now, you'll wish you had drowned earlier! I've put us both in great danger." Her big brown eyes were filled with fear of the unknown.

Winry could understand. "I'm used to being put in danger," she insisted. "I'm even more used to being saved from it. But I have to ask: if you knew the locals were going to see you, why did you save me?"

"I don't know!" Zhilan exclaimed, pacing once more. "I've sealed my own death because of it! Rescuing a condemned person is almost as badly punished as murder! They'll kill me when they find me...!

"Still, I couldn't watch that happen to you. Not after Pa was killed the same way! That would be much worse than death!"

Winry's eyes widened. "They accused men of witchcraft, too?" she asked quietly.

"Renshu Su doesn't discriminate," Zhilan spat, rubbing tears away. "It's been this way for a year now. Pa drowned in the hands of God. I won't forgive Him or Renshu for taking Pa away from me!"

The blonde slowly stood up. "Zhilan-"

"Quiet," the Xingese girl suddenly whispered, her body freezing in alertness. Winry did the same. She was suddenly very wary of what was happening. "Someone is coming." She shoved Winry under the table and ran in the opposite direction toward the bar. She hopped over it and assumed a working position, although it didn't help that she was soaked to the core.

"Why are you over there?" Winry asked, baffled that the Xingese woman was leaving herself in the open.

Zhilan shrugged and started wiping the inside of a glass. "I'm from the Wu family. We always protect people no matter what... and don't worry, I'm able to protect myself."

"But... what if it's Renshu Su?" Winry whisper-yelled.

"He couldn't have come so quickly," Zhilan replied with an eerily calm expression. She explained, "But now that I've been seen with you, anyone can come here and make a citizen's arrest. I'll bet that you and I already have bounties on our heads."

Winry heard the door suddenly slam against the wall, signaling that someone with very volatile emotions had just entered. _Crap,_ she thought, unwilling to move. _Who's here, and what's their motive?_


End file.
